I honestly don’t know what more can people expect, watching us play is like chess, absorbing the pressure, quick counter attack goal. The other team only has that amount of the ball because we allow them to have it.
Any sane person can see the logic and tactics behind that. There is team work involved. I enjoy this football that we are playing presently. No one will remember what attacking football we played in years to come if we won nothing. Every season we waste points and it adds up at the end. People will remember the hammering we got against Manchester City and Liverpool when we tried to attack them.
If we had a top class squad with 11 very good first teamers then we can try slugging it with the best, with the squad that we have, we cannot compete with the big boys in all out attack. I still remember the days under Poch when our players could hardly string 3 passes together.
Let’s also be honest, towards the end of Poch regime, we played rubbish football. Good things ahead for our club, we now are more tactically aware and have a B plan… something we did not have under Pochettino.
id guess that any “sane person” watching this tripe for a season might very well be an “insane person” by seasons end.and yes, the spin put on these turgid displays seems to be, as another poster suggested, a form of brainwashing ,say it often enough and everybody will believe it. what makes this exercise in “hippy marxism” even more ridicolous ,is that these purveyors of b.s seem to think that after only 11 games our destiny as title winners is allover bar the shouting .no matter how much turd polishing is presented this style is neither sexy, tactically brilliant ,cultured ,exciting,entertaining or a beauty to behold. best to rejoice at spurs being top and try not to think too much about how they got there.
“jackboots” arent needed to crush someone..today its done with a keyboard instead.lol
This fool wants us back at the old lane paying big wages. WHAT WITH?????
Good. And now we can outspend everyone. Big up yourself Daniel
Generational debt that will keep our club scraping in the bargain basement? Stop chatting $h!t. Untold billions gonna pass through my club in the next 25 years. The debts peanuts. If you think José only knows defensive football you’re stupid. José knows every style there is. The man’s a tactical genius. Next season we’ll see a different style. Wanna bet
Levy should be blamed for what? Building a new stadium? So you think we should be back at the little old lane? Do you know how much we get from American football? Do you think the stadium should be for football only? Levy used poch. Get over it. Dumb fkrs putting poch before the club. He got nearly £40 million out of it. Fck him now
“drivel? Like you know more about Tottenham than me. You ain’t even a real fan. “Abuser? You started the abuse thinking I was just some pu$$y hole nobody. Fkin wrong though weren’t ya
Most of the squad couldn’t wait to see the back of one trick pony poch and his team. And you think he shouldn’t have been sacked. Shows how much you know. Your just another dumb fckr that all you know is what you read
He was too dumb to raise his own funds from the £1billion pound team he had. It’s his fault the squad got stale. He neglected it. José woulda never let that happen. He wouldn’t have been here for them 5.5 years and not won anything that’s for sure
And what did your man poch do? Fk all. As a manager he’s a bum
Poch Vs José? They’re not even in the same league. It’s like non league Haringey borough Vs Tottenham
Yep they must be stupid. All they understand is highpress
Poch has nothing on José. You’re too stupid to realise it. You’re both losers
Shut up you dumb nobody
Jackboots generally refer to any totalitarian regime and it was in reply to a comment someone else made in that vain. It’s a term of reference, why are you taking it literally? Weird…
Combining both extreme fascist and communist references in 2 hyperbolic sentences about a couple of football games, bravo sir!
Behaving like a schmuck as usual below.
Poch wasn’t backed properly over his tenure. Levy was too busy looking at carpet samples and models of twisty bridges…
Spot on, selective memory strikes yet again!! 😂
I think that’s a ridiculous thing to say, why on earth not? Honestly, people have very short memories when it comes to the Poch era. He’s now some kind of dysfunctional weirdo that will never get another job?! 😂
Ashley or Joe Cole?
The rest were big strong athletes, yes they had some quality but physically speaking, that’s a ‘bludgeoning’ lineup…
Well, I get a bit carried away but I try to contribute to the general debate in my way!
I think the situation during Poch’s time, mainly the stadium being built and also no home ground for almost 2 years made it very different to what Jose walked into and the backing he’s had since.
Not sure about that, in the end the spirit was affected by things like the Eriksen and Rose situations but when we were in that great three or four seasons under Poch I think the togetherness was pretty awesome.
I agree though that the spirit is now once again very good.
We are experiencing a jackboot mentality regarding being forced to accept and ‘enjoy’ what we are watching right now by some.
Wasn’t it Stalin that made crowds applaud his speeches until their hands bled?! 🤔 😂
Seems to me the guest blogger may be confusing a preference for ‘how’ things are done, with an understanding of ‘why’. I’ve yet to meet a football fan who isn’t sane enough to understand why Maureen sets his teams up like he does. Or is the implication here that people who find our current style of play hard to appreciate must be stupid? Are we in taste fascism territory? You don’t like what I like so I’ll talk down to you.
As a Spurs fan who isn’t enjoying the 90 minutes or so before the final whistle as much as I have during most of the past several years, I sometimes feel while reading these blogs that I’m getting a flavour of what it’s like to be of sound mind but very old, and have someone young speak to me V E R Y S L O W L Y A N D L O U D L Y.
Go on the Supercilious Style Tsars!
It had to change, just a massive error by Levy not to help refresh the squad far earlier. By the end everyone had had enough. Poch, the players, Levy and the fans. We all saw the cracks for 18 months. I can’t blame Poch for not buying poor squad players, but I can blame Levy for not giving Poch the options to buy First team quality players.
Seriously, Poch never made a substitute that affected a game! Wow. He had a strong XI but had few options on the bench, but I think Llorente v Man City in the Ch Lg was a decent one. Poch had a tendency to make a substitution after 60 mins, but he still made them and he won more than he lost/drew. Very rarely was he caught cold in a game, like Jose and Olympiakos last year. Fair play to Jose for changing the lineup after 30 mins but there is an argument that we shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with. Don’t be naive about Poch and United, players and managers are tapped up all the time, but the story is Poch stayed, but that loyalty apparently means nothing to some. If Utd wanted him and he wanted to go he would have gone. Jose had a Plan B at Chelsea so he must have one with us, hardly a convincing argument is it? Jose has been with us a year and I haven’t seen it. We definitely need to sort out breaking down teams who defend with the low/mid/high press, as we have struggled. This has to be a priority, unless Jose sicks back in every game, do you remember the Newcastle game in Lockdown? Did you enjoy that one, or the result? With countless teams around Europe playing attacking football I much prefer to see a team play like Leipzig or Liverpool or Leicester. The results are good, but we are being brainwashed that the only way to win is by playing ultra defensive football. This is isn’t true, but it is how Jose goes about his business. Spurs fans have to accept that, but I don’t have to like it or feel that Poch was an abject failure because we are now top after 11 games. Levy tops the charts for me in being a master of failure. 2 League Cups and chronic under investment when compared to other teams for nearly a quarter of a century. At least we have a stadium with a generational debt which will keep our club scraping in the bargain basement and trying to get lucky with the Hojbjerg’s of this world. No way would Mourinho have had Vinicius, Doherty or Rodon as first choice buys if he had a bigger budget. If he had been backed by Levy we would have been in a far better position. As for being Spursy, the last time we were called that was under Mourinho after West Ham. We were far from Spursy under Poch. Let the sensationalist journalists and commentators talk nonsense, that is their job, but to do it in-house is embarrassing.
I agree to some extent with what you say, but I do feel that defending well is good to watch too as it’s an art in itself. That said, I do get frustrated a little bit with getting a lead and then saying to the other team, “go on then, try to beat us”. If we can develop a bit more of an aggressive, but controlled attacking posture then that would be ideal. However, I am a pragmatist and understand what is going on, so I am fully behind Mourinho and his current way of playing as it is a results oriented business. I have also noticed how driven and motivated he is. Completely different to ManUre. He clearly loves being here and is giving all he can to deliver. Winning ugly is better than not winning at all. It may not be palatable to some, but it is a truism.
I agree to some extent with what you say, but I do feel that defending well is good to watch too as it’s an art in itself. That said, I do get frustrated a little bit with getting a lead and then saying to the other team, “go on then, try to beat us”. If we can develop a bit more of an aggressive, but controlled attacking posture then that would be ideal. However, I am a pragmatist and understand what is going on, so I am fully behind Mourinho and his current way of playing as it is a results oriented business. I have also noticed how driven and motivated he is. Completely different to ManUre. He clearly loves being here and is giving all he can to deliver. Winning ugly is better than not winning at all. It may not be palatable to some, but it is a truism.
I agree to some extent with what you say, but I do feel that defending well is good to watch too as it’s an art in itself. That said, I do get frustrated a little bit with getting a lead and then saying to the other team, “go on then, try to beat us”. If we can develop a bit more of an aggressive, but controlled attacking posture then that would be ideal. However, I am a pragmatist and understand what is going on, so I am fully behind Mourinho and his current way of playing as it is a results oriented business. I have also noticed how driven and motivated he is. Completely different to ManUre. He clearly loves being here and is giving all he can to deliver. Winning ugly is better than not winning at all. It may not be palatable to some, but it is a truism.
Well we played some very attractive stuff against Utd and S-hampton, so it can happen. Hopefully as he adds players to the squad (Levy permitting) we’ll get more attractive players to balance out the squad.
100 percent agree with you Tony. Do you not get fed up listening to someone different everyday trying to brain wash us telling us we “must”enjoy the football currently on offer descibing it like watching chess or that defending for most part of the game is sexy. I’ll put up with watching it like yourself if it brings success.Ive said before we have been starved for too long and if it is working fine,and I don’t have a problem with neutral fans and pundits stating the obvious either in its not everyone’s cup of tea,I would agree with them.
That’s irrelevant. 20 trophies won in his career, won at every club he has been manager of since joining Porto. There is a myth that his teams don’t play attractive football, but look at Porto/Chelsea/Real Madrid/Inter Milan and how they played. He knows what it takes to win based on what he has to work with. It may not be to everyone’s taste and I’d rather win a trophy in style, but if not, I’ll take winning ugly if that gets us silverware.
Maybe tomorrow if Real Madrid get knocked out of the CL tonight and sack ZZ.
Lets hope that is a precedent.
When will Botch be returning to Football Management, Sorry, Coaching. He will have to Trim a few pounds if it’s the latter.
Mourinho has probably spent more in management than Spurs have in their entire history.😂
Barring injuries Mou has found a way of nullifying the richer teams quite effectively, I think we’ll be there or thereabouts barring injuries to our top players. As usual the bench could be better.
Will be interesting to see how we cope if Sonny or Kane get injured? Hopefully with being rested in the cups more that won’t happen for a long time. I think our offensive capability will suffer as a result. Lamela is never going to be able to replace either of them effectively.
Blackburn won the title with the help of SAS, Shearer and Sutton.
It’s turned from the charge of the Light Brigade into the SAS.
I made the point above, that it’s the system that Mourinho is using is the main reason Dier and Aurier in particular are looking sounder defensively. He is sacrificing two players to cover the FB’S and I think it’s frustrating a lot of people whether your a fan a pundit or even a player in opposition. It is still December, let’s see how things develop, but the commitment of the players is a joy to see.
Or Hazard, Makelele, Ozil, Sneijder, Eto’o. Ronaldo only scored 168 goals in 163 appearances under Mourinho. How’s that for bludgeoning? Mourinho has actually won more in his career in management than Spurs have in their entire history, since being founded in 1882.
The answer to whether Poch can go on to achieve the relative success he had with us is a debatable subject, to be honest I have serious doubts he is capable of managing the squad we have now.
Drogba Robben Lampard Cole Essien Ballack. These players didn’t bludgeon.
The only player to have gone backwards is Sanchez, the rest are knuckling down and competing as a squad. How about the transformation in Ndombele that is worthy of praise because he was an expensive flop. I am not a fan of all the players but Jose has them working as a group and working for each other, I never thought we had that “togetherness” under Poch .
The manager will always have a say in transfers. He may not get the final decision, but that’s they way of all teams in the end.
Until we actually win anything this post means zero.
Clickbait for us lot on Poch v Maureen :).
Dont be fooled ? got some inside info have ya?
Hardly “hanging in there”. We are where we are on merit. Why exclude us from the list of contenders?
As much as I will dislike the way t’s achieved DD, a draw could well be on the cards. Something about Liverpool’s back line without their big Dutch guy that makes me feel they might not enjoy the Kane Sonny axis!
Unfortunately you dont win a trophy for finishing in the top 4,you also forget to mention that in that period leicester won the league with an even lower net spend.By you even mentioning the Real Madrid game you are doing exactly what you are saying I am doing ” cherry picking “. I am not disputing that Poch was good for us at a certain point. In the end trophies matter and we won nothing under Poch.If we dont win anything under Jose than he will be considered as successfull as Pochetino was.
Nope. We gonna win the league
Easty well articulated as always but having read your novel I actually forgot what my question was!! (lol)
IMO whilst we are deservedly hanging in there the principal protagonists to win the PL title this season are Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea respectively.
ENIC. LEVY. JOSÉ. TOTTENHAM DIE HARDS IN. WONKY WEAK FCKRS OUT
So what about all that. We’re top of the league now and in the running for 3 more cups you mug.
Bla bla fkin bla.
COUNTER ATTACKING. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. ITS WORKING. TOP OF THE LEAGUE
Salah,Firmino,Mane,Jota,AlexArnold,Wijnaldum,all very capable. We could probably name the team now if everyone’s fit to play Liverpool ,and you are right it’s Kane or Sonny. Moura,Bale,Bergwijn have to start chipping in with a few. I want Viniciuis to be given a run out on the right playing with Son & Kane as an alternative,front three.
Again, 100% spot on. We are defending well because we are effectively playing a back six with the ball and a back 9 without it!
Yep.
Aurier now has competition for his place for the first time since Trippier left and he’s playing like he does.
Dier has now recovered from the long term illness he was suffering before Jose arrived and Jose has put faith in him but it’s taken quite a while to gradually get to this point playing at the back.
Alli is the only one who’s not getting in the side mainly for tactical reasons and the need to use Tanguy and Gio as more recent and pricey signings, they can’t all play in Jose’s system, Eriksen was always on his way out and Rose too.
Regulon is a major upgrade at left back and we haven’t had a proper defensive midfielder since Wanyama went into decline so PEH fills that role rather than having to use Winks or Sissoko there.
The signings have freshened everything up, too years later it finally happens…
Thats fine to a point but over reliance on Kane and Son needs changing with others chipping in with goals as Liverpool do spreading the goals throughout the side!!
Jose prefares the physicality of Sissoko in midfield to stop the opposition playing rather than the creativity of someone like Dele.
EM – By strengthening the squad in the summer creating competition for places Messrs Aurier, Dier and others have upped their game precipitating a positive fear,ending the comfort zone of perceived slackers such as Alli happy sitting back on their laurels who can no longer be guaranteed of a place in the side as they have done in the past!!
In Poch’s day we had 4 defending now we have 10. If we went back to four Dier & Aurier would show their limitations and be exposed again. What Jose is doing is working but only under these conditions, I don’t believe most fans like the style but most are prepared to go with it if it brings success this season.
Haven’t the stale Poch players now been revived, even improved their performances ? Could Dier and Aurier be examples of that, just maybe it’s the tactics that are suiting them better, have you thought of that ?
Freshened squad yes, but some of the regulars under Poch can’t get in anyway or have been moved on with the exception of Rose. You can’t have it all ways I’m afraid.
It was 100% to do with Levy’s stadium obsession for three years, if not longer. Without Poch we’d have been bottom half…
Beating Real Madrid without home ground was well ‘Spursy’ mate… So was finishing top 4 every season with a 17th highest net spend and a wage bill 100m a year less than Woolwich. You’re merely cherry picking from the past and ignoring any context…
Unbelievable some of you…
So signing nobody for 12 months, a net spend of 17th in the league and a wage bill of 7th obviously had no influence on proceedings?
I think you and others need to concentrate more on the facts rather than cherrypicking what you need from the past, just to back up the point you’re attempting to make in the present.
Yet more predictably immature and illogical drivel from our resident abuser below I see…
“WHEN WE WIN ITS ALRIGHT… BUT THE FOOTBALL IS SH*TE” 😂
That’s because he wanted players who could win playing high pressing attacking football. For that you need quality and specific profile of player, gawd knows what dross Levy offered up as signings. After the experience of NoCluedo, Clinton Cards and Sissoko he probably said “thanks, but no thanks”…
No, it’s the other way round. Don’t get beaten and you can always win…
He’s always bludgeoned opponents rather than outplay them. It’s what he’s always done.
Yes, most certainly DD. ENIC and Levy still have a very long way to go to make up for over 20 years as custodians of this great club while overseeing just one measily League Cup way back in 2008.
If you look at our summer spending, we didn’t actually spend a great deal either. If you put that together with the Tanguy, Gio and Sessingnon signings last summer it looks like a lot of transfer activity over a 12 month period.
However, when you consider that we signed NOBODY for a full 12 months before, along with the small activity in the two seasons prior to that, Levy has some catching up to do.
Predictably, after last summer he started prattling on about how we’d spent “more than anyone else” during that period. Completely ignoring the context of the previous three years of course. Along with the likes of Cheatski’s activity this summer, I think we can safely say that we are still way behind our rivals in that respect.
I would say that our net spend over the last 5 seasons must still rate at about 15th in the Premier League.
Add bringing in a manager who gets the team playing in a way that doesn’t fit our traditions as a club, I remain far from happy with the set up at the top at Spurs, am I the only one who doesn’t suffer from this sudden amnesia regarding what the club is about?
If Jose wins us something big, I will be more than happy but it will be more down to Jose’s ability as a manager and players like Son and Kane doing job in the present. A return to exciting but WINNING football is a must in this new stadium, and this just ain’t it.
Will a 15th net spend and a 7th highest wage bill ever bring all of the above over the long term? I very much doubt it, so either ENIC step it up or sell to someone who can honour the traditions of the club while competing for the biggest prizes.
I bet you’re regretting asking me now aren’t you! lol
Jose has inherited a blunt tool of a squad which he has trained to bludgeon opponents. He will sharpen the tool as time goes by so we can kill in different ways.
Digressing, Easty when us disillusioned natives were growing restless you will vividly recall there were periodic mutterings by yourself of “Sack the Board”. Presumably now that we have an upturn in fortunes and everything is hunky dorry presumably you are you happy with ENIC or are you still yearning for a change of regime??
“Levy’s to blame for building the best stadium in the world allowing us now to be able to compet£! Big up Daniel levy. Big up all the welders on the stadium project too. Top work🌚
The stadium was a priority to be able to compete in the future and now. We can pay wages and attract. I rate levy for it
‘Towards the end of the Poch era” was a period displaying the symptoms of the total neglect in the transfer market. We had gone stale.
We were also stale after Jose arrived, some decent activity in the Summer market and hey presto, we look fresh again.
Sorry, totally disagree. We beat Real Madrid, we trounced Liverpool even without a home ground when the Poch era was fully functional.
This is just conveniently selecting the end of an otherwise stellar football period to justify one in which we play in a dull and defensive (albeit currently effective) manner.
So we need to take the declined and stale Poch team to get our comparison with what we are doing now, interesting…
That sums it up really doesn’t it? 🤔
José is a DON whoever can’t see that is a fkin fool. Idiot’s talking about possession after we win games. Dumb fkrs
Big up levy big up José and fck poch.
When did you see Poch bring on a substitute that changed the game in our favour ? Levy was definitely to blame ,I like most on this blog have blamed him for a long time. The difference was Poch was a Yes man,he accepted things as they were. Jose didn’t spend that much this season anyway,he bought smart. Something Poch was lacking as a manager. Dont be fooled that Poch never have a say in players transfer. From past quotes of Harry Redknapp,he said that levy would tell him so and so player is available, do you think he could improve your team etc. No one is arguing that Poch wasnt good for our club when he was,the difference was he could not take us any further than where we were. Also let us not forget about the stories that Poch was looking for a move to united. Where there is smoke there is fire.Anyone who has watched Jose since he first joined Chelsea will know that he has a plan B. It’s stupid to assume otherwise. I for one dont believe that we will play only counter attacking football. The Chelsea game was evidence that teams are respecting us finally,Lampard used similar tactics to us when we played each other… look at the attacking lineup he had? I enjoy watching this type of football more than hearing ex footballers and current pundits saying that ” it is only spurs ” or inventing words like “spursy” to describe failure.
I love Mourinho’s plan of ‘win, but IF you cannot then get a draw.’
Some record up for ending!!
What is patently obvious against formidable Liverpool is that to come away with anything when preferably taking the lead we can ill afford to:-
a) Make any Wolves type defensive lapses, and
b) Squander any presentable opportunities
Incidentally Liverpool last lost a home top-flight match in April 2017 (losing to Palace) and have since completed three full campaigns without a league defeat!!
Whilst I fully concur with your sentiments IMO suffocating Liverpool’s fluid style of play over 90mins is fairly remote!
I agree with Cowspurs on the assertion that the fall of the form was mostly down to Levy’s prioritisation of the Stadium.
Spilt milk, leave it in the past… That was then, this is now.
Hurrah for some common sense.
Those still in denial will be shown José’s plan B in time this season but to now, THFC have not needed it, since the ‘reset’ after the Wet Spam match.
Mauricio drastically overachieved during his tenure, we all know & are grateful for that but sadly, for him, it was time to move on & just to set it straight, it was Mauricio’s final decision to not buy if it wasn’t a 1st choice player, he has stated as such.
Football at the highest level is always tactical. The amount of possession is irrelevant. Mourinho plays to the other teams weaknesses not necessarily to Spur’s strengths. Let the opposition have the ball, lull them into a false sense of security, then mug them! Great!!
I’m not as worried because more of our players are finding close to their top form, esp Lo Celso and Ndombele who both seem a bit more in the swing of it, and Jose is more sure of his best 11 – there will be a few squeaky games but I also think we’ll just carve most bottom half teams open
I am also a bit worried about teams which will play cautious football against us. We had a really hard time breaking defenses this season. We didnt have many chances against wba or brighton. I also dont know about this “plan B” and I hope it exists
With Poch at the end we were lucky our two half season’s of relegation level points return football fell within one calendar year, rather than over the one season – we were probably ‘too good to go down’ but you never know!!
You are right about Poch’s style of football towards the end. It was poor, but Levy has to be blamed for that too. You know who Levy is don’t you? The baldy guy who wouldn’t buy a player for 3 transfer windows so that he could build a shiny new stadium to play American Football in. Please clarify how Poch and his team managed to get in the Ch Lg for so many seasons if his team could hardly string 3 passes together? Please stop trying to rewrite history and put all our failings at the feet of Poch. Poch got 2nd and 3rd in the League which was our best finishes in decades. We have started well and all the fans out there thinking we have already won the league should show a little humility. Everton thought they had won the league 5 weeks ago, I am sure Chelsea, City and Liverpool might have something to say about it. Jose certainly knows what he is doing, but to trump Poch he needs to win the league. That is a mighty tough ask, especially if Levy doesn’t back him for 3 transfer windows! By the way, what’s our Plan B? We defend for our lives, countering like leopards against teams that dominate possession, but also against teams like Arsenal! Of course, we have been fed the line we don’t need to have the ball to win, so give it to the opposition to make a mess of it! I saw little in terms of a plan v WBA, Burnley and Brighton, but please enlighten me.
yup